When he arrived at Hull City I think everyone immediately took to Leonid Slutsky because of his personality.

The Russian had a smile on his face from the minute he walked through the door and kept that smile throughout a difficult pre-season, always focusing on the positives.

That smile has disappeared over the last week and after being visibly frustrated at his press conference last week, I think everyone could see he looked like a man unhappy with his situation following the Queens Park Rangers defeat.

His team had lost, so you’d not expect him to come into the press conference doing cartwheels. But still, he didn’t look like a man at ease with everything, in fact to me he looked like a man who was utterly fed up.

Hull City boss Leonid Slutsky at his first press conference

Slutsky says he’ll stay and fight through this, even though he says it’s the hardest point of his life. I expect he’s a man of his word and he won’t walk away, but I’d not blame him at all if he did.

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QPR v Hull City

Imagine turning up to work and being asked to do a great job, but then not being given the tools to actually carry out your job properly. That’s what Slutsky is facing right now.

The City squad is not good enough to compete at the level he and the fans want to compete at and with injuries growing and now Sam Clucas off, it’s about to get even worse.

You can’t help but feel sorry for the manager. He’s working in difficult conditions, with some players clearly playing while not fit and he’s not got enough players to choose from.

The team suffers as a result and once again it’s the fans who suffer too. At QPR it was two bad teams who look destined for a season of struggles in the lower regions of the table.

Leonid Slutsky head coach of Hull City (Image: Focus)

The spine of the City team has been dismantled since last season with Abel Hernandez’s injury and Clucas’ soon-to-be departure rubber-stamping that.

City are losing their best player in Clucas and while they’re getting good money for someone who they paid little for just a couple of years ago, unless you’re going to reinvest all that money then what does it matter to the supporters, or Slutsky for that matter.

Clucas deserves his shot at the Premier League, he’s earned that for the hard work he’s put in during his career.

His absence will leave a massive hole, though. We were looking at Clucas this season to be the one real player of quality who could make a difference in the City midfield and him going leaves City severely lacking in that department.

It needs to be a very busy end to the transfer window and I think Slutsky needs eight more players. But it’s not just a case of bringing in bodies, what the team needs is an injection of quality.

Finding quality players at this stage costs money and will the club spend that sort of money to do the rebuilding that is needed? I’m not so sure they will. I hope I am proven wrong because it will be a long season otherwise.